“She has been too much for you, my friend.”
“Whom do you mean?”
“The mother, of course. She has planned this marriage so that she might be revenged upon us here.”
He was quite ready to do Charlotte the justice of allowing that it was the only view she was likely to hold. The pressure of mere facts was too heavy. Words of his would be powerless against them; and yet he was determined to use every means at his command to clear that suspicion from her mind.
“I hope you will believe me when I tell you she is entirely innocent,” he said in a voice of sudden emotion.
Charlotte slowly shook her head, but it was a gesture of defeat. She was beyond malice now.
“Charlotte, I give you my word that she had no part in it.”
His sister looked at him pityingly. “It is impossible to believe that,” she said without bitterness.
“So I see. But it is my duty to convince you.”
For a moment he fought a growing emotion, and then his mind suddenly made up, he pressed the button of the electric bell that was near his elbow.